The Demand Project holds Rally Cry Walk to raise awareness for human trafficking

JENKS, Okla. — The Demand Project, a nonprofit that supports children who have survived human trafficking, held its annual Rally Cry Walk to help raise funds and awareness.

"We've been serving here in Tulsa for 11 years and in 2020, we opened the largest safe house in the nation for children surviving these crimes," said Jamie Miller, the Donor Developer and Event Coordinator for The Demand Project. "When The Demand Project started, we were for prevention and aiding in the legal things these children have to through as well as recovery. When the Restoration campus opened, it really has broadened our reach."

The Rally Walk had various activities take place on the Jenks Riverwalk, such as Zumba and face painting, accompanied by merchandise sales from The Demand Project merch line.

The event culminated in an hour walk to, in Miller's words, "show that we are taking the steps to end human trafficking."

Alongside The Demand Project, Miller explained that other nonprofits who aid in addressing the vulnerable situations many of these children go through prior to trafficking were also at the event and celebrating raising awareness and providing education.

"As service providers, it is really like people are coming to hold our arms up. You know, we're in the trenches serving these children surviving these crimes every single day and when our community comes out to show the support, it really gives us a boost of energy to keep doing what we're doing day in and day out," said Miller.

Miller also explained the importance of funding to help them continue to provide services to these children.

"We take children from all over the country and we're looking for the community to help us help more children in our search to be fully funded, so we are starting a campaign. We're asking 25,000 people to give $10 a month so that we can fully fund what we're doing now and then open a boy's home in the future."

She also shared some information about one of The Demand Project's upcoming events.

"Every year, The Demand Project hosts an educational conference during January, which is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. It will be in downtown Tulsa at the Hyatt Regency on January 9th and 10th. Our registrations are open now and that's open to the public. But we also focus on the multidisciplinary teams that are working with these children from law enforcement, to medical, to attorneys. We give continued education credits for everyone that comes, so we're really encouraging people. If you're in the fight to end human trafficking, show up to these events so that we can have the unity that is needed as we fight against these crimes."

If you would like to learn more about The Demand Project, you can visit their website at thedemandproject.org .